Sen. Reed grills intel chiefs on Russian meddling in elections

He presses them to answer whether President Donald Trump has directed them to stop Russian threat

By Ellen Nakashima and Shane HarrisThe Washington POst

WASHINGTON — The nation's top intelligence chiefs were united Tuesday in declaring that Russia is continuing efforts to disrupt the U.S. political system and is targeting the 2018 midterm election, following its successful operation to sow discord in the most recent presidential campaign.

Their assessment during the Senate Intelligence Committee hearing on worldwide threats stands in contrast to President Donald Trump, who has repeatedly voiced skepticism of Russian meddling in the 2016 election.

Sen. Jack Reed, D-R.I., asked the intelligence officials whether Trump has directed them to take "specific actions to confront and to blunt" Russian interference activities.

CIA Director Mike Pompeo added that Trump "has made very clear we have an obligation" to make sure policymakers have a deep understanding of the Russia threat.

Director of National Intelligence Daniel Coats also said the intelligence agencies "pass onto the policymakers, including the president," relevant intelligence.

But Reed pressed on his question: "Passing on relevant intelligence is not actively disrupting the operations of an opponent. Do you agree?"

Coats answered, "We take all kinds of steps to disrupt Russian activities."

Pompeo added: "Senator Reed, we have a significant effort. I'm happy to talk about it in closed session."

A visibly frustrated Reed responded: "The simple question I've posed is, has the president directed the intelligence community in a coordinated effort, not merely to report but to actively stop this activity, and the answer seems to be that ... the reporting is going on, as reporting [goes on] about every threat going into the United States."

Reed told The Providence Journal Tuesday night that it "is up to the president to organize and conduct a response," adding that there are a "number of things" the administration could do.

"So far," Reed said, "they haven't been able to point to anything concrete and significant that was done."

The U.S. government, he said, can respond to the interference by imposing sanctions on Russia, doing more to secure election machines and doing more to identify Russian activity on social media platforms with cooperation from social media companies such as Facebook. Failing to take those steps and others will increase the country's vulnerability to the Russians, Reed told The Journal.

At the committee hearing, other Democratic senators also demanded to know what the intelligence community is doing to counter Russia's actions and whether Trump has given explicit directions to them to do so.

"We cannot confront this threat, which is a serious one, without a whole-of-government response when the leader of the government continues to deny that it exists," said Sen. Angus King, I-Maine.

The disconnect between Trump and his senior-most intelligence advisers has raised concerns that the U.S. government will not be able to mount an effective plan to beat back Russian influence operations in the upcoming midterm election.

Coats said there is "no single agency in charge" of blocking Russian meddling, an admission that drew the ire of Democrats.

"The fact that we don't have clarity about who's in charge means, I believe, we don't have a full plan," said Mark Warner, D-Va., the vice chairman of the committee, which is conducting an investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election.

Coats said that Russia will continue using propaganda, false personas and social media to undermine the upcoming election.

"There should be no doubt that Russia perceives its past efforts" to disrupt the 2016 presidential campaign "as successful and views the 2018 midterm elections as a potential target for Russian influence operations," said Coats, the leader of the U.S. government's 17 intelligence agencies.

His assessment was echoed by all five other intelligence agency heads present at the hearing, including Pompeo, who two weeks ago stated publicly that he had "every expectation" that Russia will try to influence the coming election.

In the hearing, Pompeo took issue with King's suggestion that the U.S. government has not taken actions to deter adversaries in cyberspace: "Your statement that we have done nothing does not reflect the responses that, frankly, some of us at this table have engaged in — that the U.S. government has engaged in — both during and before this administration."

King, citing the nuclear doomsday movie "Dr. Strangelove," said "deterrence doesn't work unless the other side knows" about the weapon.

"It's true — it's important that the adversary knows," Pompeo said. "It's not a requirement that the world know it."

Asked whether the adversary knows about U.S. actions, he said, "I'd prefer to leave that for another forum."

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